Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
New York Stock Exchange
of S&P 500 It edged up slightly on Wednesday as investors awaited a key U.S. inflation report.
The composite stock price index rose 0.2% to a new record high, extending its gains for the seventh consecutive day. Nasdaq Composite Index It rose 0.4% to an all-time high. Dow Jones Industrial Average It drifted near the flatline.
The Consumer Price Index report for June is due to be released on Thursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect an increase of 0.1% from the previous month and 3.1% from a year ago. The core CPI, which excludes energy and food prices, is expected to rise 0.2% from the previous month and 3.4% from a year ago. The Producer Price Index is due to be released on Friday.
“So far this week, equity traders have been willing to ignore or dismiss the downside risks associated with evidence of recent slowdown in U.S. and international economic activity indicators,” Thierry Wisman, global FX and rates strategist at Macquarie, wrote on Wednesday. “Instead, equity indexes have been broadly driven higher by renewed liquidity brought about by the assumption that the Fed (and other central banks) will start or continue to cut policy rates this year.”
Wall Street saw the Nasdaq and S&P 500 close at fresh record highs after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned on Tuesday that keeping interest rates high for too long could stifle economic growth.
“Reducing policy restraints too late or by too little could weaken economic activity and employment too much,” Powell told the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday as part of his semi-annual address to Congress. He will continue his testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. “Further, better data will strengthen our confidence that inflation is on a sustained path to 2 percent,” Powell added.
